Directions

1

First, take a 5-quart oval roaster or heavy aluminum Dutch oven and melt the butter until it begins to foam (but don’t let it burn!). Then drop in the onions, the celery, the bell pepper, and the garlic and sauté them over medium heat until they soften and turn clear (which should take you about 4 to 5 minutes).

2

Next, go ahead and add your chicken broth, your tomato paste, your bouillon, and your bay leaves, stir and blend all the ingredients completely, cover the pot, and let everything simmer for about 20 minutes.

3

Then, about 15 minutes before you’re ready to eat, fold in the diced chicken, along with half the onions tops, half the parsley, the crushed red pepper, the hot sauce, and the poultry seasoning. Take special effort to ensure that these ingredients are fully and thoroughly blended. Then cover the pot, turn the fire down to low, and let the etouffee simmer so that all the flavors come together smoothly. This is a critical part of the process—don’t minimize it and certainly don’t skip over it.

4

After 15 minutes, turn the fire up to medium high. Then stir in, a little at a time, enough of the gravy flour and wine mixture to reach the consistency you desire (which should be nothing more than a light sauce but still thick enough to coat the back of a spoon). At this point, you should also readjust your seasonings: a little extra salt to taste, perhaps more hot sauce, maybe a touch of black pepper. Just remember that a true etouffee is a “yellow-rose” color, not a deep “tomato gravy” red.

5

Finally, when you can resist the aroma no longer and can hardly wait to dig in, liberally ladle the chicken chunks and sauce over a big plate of steaming long-grain rice. All that’s left to do then is to garnish it with some of the remaining parsley and onion tops and serve it piping hot with butter-toasted French bread and a tossed green salad with either French or Catalina Dressing.